Indictment Charges Megaupload Site With Piracy

McLEAN, Va. â€” Federal prosecutors in Virginia say they have shut
down one of the worldâ€™s largest Internet file-sharing sites,
Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating
piracy laws.

An indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders
more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other
content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after Web
sites shut down in protest of two Congressional proposals intended to
thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The indictment says that at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular Web site in the world.